Hundreds of people have gathered in front of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry in Kiev, demanding resignation of President Petro Poroshenko and the defense minister over the poor handling of the military operation in the southeast.

The demonstrators, many of whom were mothers and wives of the
soldiers involved in the fighting in the Donetsk and Lugansk
Regions, have blocked traffic at one of the capital’s arterial
roads, the Vozdukhoflotsky Boulevard.

They called on the army to urgently send reinforcements,
including tanks and other heavy military vehicles, to the city of
Ilovaysk in the Donetsk Region.

This strategic town was retaken by the self-defense forces after
several days of fighting on Wednesday, which led to the
encirclement of a large group of Kiev’s troops.